Washington.- The United States House of Representatives hoped that the arrival of the Claudia Sheinbaum Administration as the new president of Mexico could serve to improve bilateral cooperation in the areas of anti-narcotics and migration, which it considered to have been “disappointing” in recent years.
In a statement included in the State Department Spending Act for Fiscal Year 2025 approved by the House on Friday, the House of Representatives also described the cooperation between the administrations of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and US President Joe Biden as “disappointing.”
“The Mexican elections offer an opportunity, through the election of a new president, to improve the bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico,” noted the section on Mexico of the explanatory report that accompanies the Spending Law for the State Department and that still needs to be approved by the Senate.
“We encourage the State Department and the new Mexican Administration to rapidly improve the level of cooperation to combat fentanyl at the federal level, transnational crime, and migration, something that has been disappointing over the past four years,” the explanatory report added.
“Next year can begin to reverse what has been a frustrating period of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico on issues that mean the most to the citizens of both countries,” concluded the report, which addresses funding for various State Department activities related to Mexico.
As part of the Spending Law, the Lower House also took the opportunity to highlight some strong differences that some congressmen have with the Government of López Obrador, including the actions to stop the operation of a quarry of the American firm Vulcan Materials in southern Quintana Roo.
“As President López Obrador’s term draws to a close, we express our sincere hope that his successor will reconsider the hostile takeover of Vulcan Materials and return the private property to its rightful owners,” said the explanatory report accompanying the Spending Law.
In the same report, the House of Representatives also asks the US State Department to exert greater pressure to resolve border disputes with Mexico arising from what is considered to be a lack of water delivery by the López Obrador Administration to cities and farmers in the State of Texas.
Just on Friday, the House of Representatives had also approved a clause that would take the lead in military relations with Mexico away from the Pentagon’s Northern Command and transfer them to the Southern Command, something that was condemned by the White House for threatening the security of the United States.
Following her electoral victory in June, U.S. lawmakers have expressed congratulations to Sheinbaum, including figures such as Republican Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Democrat Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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